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Monday, September 18, 2006

PAUL STANLEY Hits The Road Sans KISS

Nearly three decades after releasing his debut solo album, KISS singer/rhythm-guitarist PAUL STANLEY is set to deliver a follow-up, and will back the disc with a fall tour.

Stanley has lined up a three-and-a-half-week outing that launches Oct. 21 in Atlanta and is scheduled to make stops in more than a dozen cities by mid-November. Details are shown below.

Three days after kicking off his tour, Stanley will issue "Live to Win," his sophomore solo effort. The album's title track will be available exclusively via Apple's iTunes Music Store starting Sept. 26.

Stanley's first solo collection, which surfaced in 1979, is a self-titled set that he released in unison with solo albums from each of his KISS bandmates at the time: GENE SIMMONS, ACE FREHLEY and PETER CRISS. Each member appeared in full KISS makeup on his respective album cover, and all four albums bore the KISS logo.

During the years between solo discs, Stanley has remained plenty busy with KISS. The group, which shed its makeup in the early '80s after losing original guitarist Frehley and original drummer Criss, mounted a reunion tour in 1996 that featured Stanley, Simmons, Frehley and Criss in full makeup and costume. A new studio disc, titled "Psycho Circus," and supporting tour followed in '98.

In 2000, the quartet launched what it said at the time would be its farewell tour. Simmons and Stanley have since continued to tour, with drummer ERIC SINGER--who first joined the group during the band's non-make-up years--and guitarist TOMMY THAYER wearing the makeup and costumes originally made famous by Criss and Frehley, respectively.

Stanley's years of touring and jumping around on stage have apparently taken a toll on the musician; he underwent hip-replacement surgery in October of last year, and had to undergo a second hip-replacement a few months later due to complications with the first operation. That second surgery reportedly didn't solve the problem, and he is expected to undergo a third attempt at some point.

Aside from KISS, Stanley's work in recent years includes a 1999 run as the lead in a Toronto production of "Phantom of the Opera," and, more recently, his debut as a painter; he began exhibiting and selling original works of art last year.

Also last year, Stanley married his longtime girlfriend, Erin Sutton. Their first child, a boy, was born earlier this month.